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Mike Perrotta, club manager and instructor, previously worked at The Willows in North Andover and was a staple at Gold’s Gym (Previously known as Racquetime) in Danvers, MA. Mike has coached at both Lincoln High School and Johnson & Wales University. |
The most common mistake when hitting a low volley is bending from the waist rather than your knees. By bending from the waist, you tend to lose your balance because your legs can no longer support the body's weight. It is also more difficult to get your racket head under the ball because you center of gravity is above the ball. Bending at your knees will lower your center of gravity, help you keep your back straight, and make it easier to get your racket head under the ball.
Bending your back knee is imperative to finding the bottom of the ball. When you bend your back knee your front knee will also bend. However, if you bend your front knee, your back knee might stay straight. Therefore, you will have the tendancy to 'hunch' over from the waist. For example, if you are a right hander and you step with your left food you should focus on bending your right or trail knee to keep your back straight.
Leg lunges are a simple and effective way to practice bending your knees on low volleys. Lunges will help you increase leg strength which will make it easier to hold your balance. Focus on stepping forward two to three feet with your left foot and bending your right knee all the way to the ground while keeping your back straight. Practice alternating legs but make sure you excercise each leg in the same direction.
Assignment: The next tome you're on the tennis court, do a set of lunges from the baseline to the net. Then hit a few low volleys and feel the difference!
Having problems with your ground strokes?
When you're hitting a forehand or backhand drive from the conventional sideways position your weight should be on your forward foot after follow through. A good way to test this is after you hit a forehand or a backhand, see if you can lift your back foot without losing your balance - if you can't then you know you are not stepping into your shot or you are reversing your weight altogether. Either way, you need to finish on your front foot to hit better drives!
One way to correct this problem is to practice hitting 'shadow ground strokes' - that is, practice swinging without hitting a ball (similar to the practice swings you may see a professional golfer take before hitting a shot). You may find that by practicing hitting forehands and backhands by only swinging at the air that you can retrain your muscle memory to shift your weight forward and correct this problem and therefor begin to hit your ground strokes more properly.